6/14/2023 0 Comments Precipitation totals 2012![]() Another interesting use of IMERG data is from MoveBank, a free online platform that helps researchers manage, share, and analyze animal movement data. Microinsurance companies use the data to help low-income individuals manage their risks when their livelihoods depend on rainfall, such as in the agricultural sector. For example, IMERG data have been used to help wheat farmers in developing countries reduce their use of freshwater resources to irrigate their crops when rain is expected. ![]() These data are also being used for a number of applications. ![]() The data are used to spot and forecast extreme events around the world, like tropical cyclones, droughts, floods, and landslides. Just 2,000 miles south, in the Atacama desert, less than an inch of rain falls in a year. About 360 inches of rain falls off the northwest coast of Colombia. The wettest places on Earth are found over the ocean, especially off the coast of tropical countries. The record reveals where some of the wettest and driest places in the world are located. The 20-year record of IMERG data is used for studying Earth’s water and energy cycles. Huffman and colleagues are working to add TRMM data back to 1998 to this record using the IMERG algorithm. "We probably know more about precipitation in 1998 now than we did in 1998," said Huffman. The longer the data record, the more valuable it is to researchers and meteorologists. Snow-covered surfaces can interfere with satellite measurements of snowfall, but on-the-ground measurements are helping GPM scientists fine-tune the IMERG algorithm. This on-the-ground data is critical for validating measurements from satellites. IMERG incorporates monthly surface precipitation gauge data in the "Final" data product (used for research) to correct for bias in the satellite estimates, where gauge data are available. The NASA algorithm-the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM ( IMERG)-fuses data from the TRMM and GPM missions, giving meteorologists and researchers access to a 20-year precipitation record (from Jto present).īefore TRMM and GPM, researchers had to depend on less-accurate satellite infrared data for determining how much precipitation fell over the ocean or in remote areas without on-the-ground precipitation-measuring instruments. TRMM was a research satellite in operation from 1997 to 2015. Last year, GPM upgraded its data algorithms to calibrate and incorporate the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) data into its data record. Data from GPM satellites are also instrumental in hurricane forecasting. Precipitation estimates from the Core Observatory satellite are used to calibrate the data from the other satellites. It also has the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument, a multi-channel microwave radiometer which serves an essential role in the near-global-coverage and frequent-revisit-time requirements of GPM. The Core Observatory satellite has an advanced active radar instrument called the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) that measures both liquid and frozen water. The current constellation is anchored by the GPM Core Observatory, which was launched in 2014 by NASA and JAXA. The combined measurements from these satellites allow GPM to provide a picture of precipitation around the world every 30 minutes. Suomi NPP also provides passive microwave measurements to GPM. For example, the instruments aboard the joint NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite contribute to our understanding of the ever-changing three-dimensional structure of atmospheric temperature and humidity, land cover and vegetation, and nighttime lights. A lot of the satellites providing passive microwave measurements of precipitation to the mission are tasked with different missions. "Most of the satellites contributing to GPM aren’t precipitation satellites, per se," said George Huffman, who is deputy project scientist for GPM. Together, these instruments make up the joint NASA/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Global Precipitation Measurement ( GPM) mission. This image shows precipitation rate data from NASA’s Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) for June 3, 2020.Īt any given time, instruments aboard about a dozen satellites contribute to a record of the world’s rain and snow. Instruments onboard about a dozen satellites contribute to the joint NASA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission.
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